Steve Strunsky/The Star-LedgerThis young woman will offer customer service with a smile to some of the 31 million passengers expected to fly in and out of Newark Liberty, JFK and LaGuardia airports this summer. Yes, she's fake.

She's friendly enough, and she can be very helpful, with lots of advice for travelers at the airport.

But she's not real.

In fact, she's an avatar made of quarter-inch-thick Plexiglas, a stationary life-sized cutout in the shape of a young woman.

She will offer customer service with a smile to some of the 31 million passengers expected to fly in and out of Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia Airports this summer.

The avatar was one of several customer service improvements announced Monday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for its three major airports.

Other announced improvements include a 20-percent increase, to 420, in the number of "Red Coats," the customer service agents at the three airports; hundreds more electrical outlets for fliers to recharge smart phones and other electronic devices and a flight information app. There will also be restroom attendants at Newark’s Terminal A, the terminal seen to be in most need of a facelift.

Officials put the development cost price of the improvements at $5 million, with a much more modest annual operating cost, and said the avatar was not replacing real people.

Officials said the improvements are based on a Port Authority survey of 10,000 fliers at the airports, which handled a combined 106 million passenger-trips last year, making it the busiest air travel region in the world.

"They spoke and we listened," said Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni. who was at Newark Liberty with Executive Director Patrick Foye.

"They want more human interaction," said Foye, noting the additional Red Coats, not the avatars, were provided in response.

But the avatar will not be entirely un-human as demonstrated on the lower level of Newark’s Terminal B, where she will be stationed in July.

The avatar is known as "Ava" at the company that created her, but the Port Authority hasn't made a naming decision.

During the demonstration, she smiled, appeared in different outfits, and spoke in reassuring tones while offering pre-recorded generic gate and baggage claim information that will be tailored to each airport before she starts work.

Foye said the avatars at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia will be the first at any North American airports, though the technology already assists fliers overseas.

To create the avatar, the videotaped image of a real-life spokesmodel is projected onto the back of the cutout, creating a moving color image in the front.

"I'm not really here, but I do look good, don’t I?" the avatar said.

The technology is from a Canadian company, Airus Media of Ontario, which did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Like an iPhone in high heels, an interactive version will eventually answer travelers’ questions, officials said. Aside from working without pay or coffee breaks, the avatar boasted of another advantage over human customer service agents: "I don’t need a background check."